Collecting Firewood

[Boatgypsy]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10...t-firewood.html

 

It now seems that it is going to become illegal to collect firewood! For 800 years we have had the right to collect deadwood for fuel - a right given in the Magna Carta, but the Forestry Commission in Wales has recently stopped issuing licences to people who want to collect firewood, whilst continuing to give licences to commercial firewood suppliers. They claim that this is because of elfin safety concerns. They are concerned that we will injure ourselves whilst picking up firewood.

 

At this stage it is just the FC in Wales, but it is likely to be extended across to England. It is also likely that other authorities who manage woodland will also follow suit - now which lovely quango do we know that manages woodland?

 

How long I wonder before BW start banning boaters from picking up firewood on the grounds of H&S.

[denboy]

so in fact i would probably need to do a risk assessment if i pick up a stick for the dog to fetch Don`t you just luv elfin safety

[mayalld]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10...t-firewood.html

 

It now seems that it is going to become illegal to collect firewood! For 800 years we have had the right to collect deadwood for fuel - a right given in the Magna Carta, but the Forestry Commission in Wales has recently stopped issuing licences to people who want to collect firewood, whilst continuing to give licences to commercial firewood suppliers. They claim that this is because of elfin safety concerns. They are concerned that we will injure ourselves whilst picking up firewood.

 

At this stage it is just the FC in Wales, but it is likely to be extended across to England. It is also likely that other authorities who manage woodland will also follow suit - now which lovely quango do we know that manages woodland?

 

How long I wonder before BW start banning boaters from picking up firewood on the grounds of H&S.

 

What utter journalistic nonsense.

 

Bringing Magna Carta in is pure fiction.

1. Rights of common were not confered by Magna Carta.
   
2. This is not about Rights of common, but about an arrangement whereby the FC issued licences to people who had no rights of common to take deadfall.
   
3. Boaters have no right now to pick up firewood (unless they have rights of common over some land), and are allowed to do so only because it is mutually convenient for both boater and BW to allow it.
   

[carlt]

Did you display your licence?

[Boatgypsy]

Sorry, moderators, I've accidentally submitted this thread twice, perhaps you can amalgamate them. Ta.

[Liam]

Merged, as requested

[stort_mark]

What utter journalistic nonsense.

 

Bringing Magna Carta in is pure fiction.

1. Rights of common were not confered by Magna Carta.
   
2. This is not about Rights of common, but about an arrangement whereby the FC issued licences to people who had no rights of common to take deadfall.
   
3. Boaters have no right now to pick up firewood (unless they have rights of common over some land), and are allowed to do so only because it is mutually convenient for both boater and BW to allow it.
   

 

 

...beat me to it

Actually this came up a while back in this forum. It's the same law as in the garden. If a branch overhangs your garden, you can chop it off to the boundary but you must return it to the owner. Given that I, the taxpayer, fund the FC, I am more than happy for them to make money from their woodlands.

 

Given it's a Mail story, however, I am wondering if they can get Middle England mercilessly braying for the lynching of someone somewhere. Maybe Russell Brand has a relative who's an evil Welsh lumberjack?

[mayalld]

...beat me to it

Actually this came up a while back in this forum. It's the same law as in the garden. If a branch overhangs your garden, you can chop it off to the boundary but you must return it to the owner. Given that I, the taxpayer, fund the FC, I am more than happy for them to make money from their woodlands.

 

Given it's a Mail story, however, I am wondering if they can get Middle England mercilessly braying for the lynching of someone somewhere. Maybe Russell Brand has a relative who's an evil Welsh lumberjack?

 

Maybe the FC could give people licences to hack up Russel Brand to burn in their stoves.

[grahoom]

Maybe the FC could give people licences to hack up Russel Brand to burn in their stoves.

 

wouldn't be much to go around... and his such a wet-blanket I'd imagine he'd be near impossible to burn! but not a bad idea....

[churchward]

Maybe the FC could give people licences to hack up Russel Brand to burn in their stoves.

 

Nah he's too wet

[sidewaysid]

I heard about this on the Jeremy Vine show BBC2 Radio, it seems it's all the Health and safety again, an old dear came on she was in her 80s and she told of when in her years as a child her Gran used to take her gathering wood in the forest, she only collected fallen wood, her Gran then used the wood to heat her copper boiler to boil wash the clothes outdoors, the Woman now in her 80s said it was some of the best times in her Childhood...What are our Children going to grow into with all this cotton wool safety things, I think when you tell kids they can't do a certain thing they do even worse...that's why we are living in this awful knife crime driven time..........best on the cut away from the savages

[johnjo]

so in fact i would probably need to do a risk assessment if i pick up a stick for the dog to fetch Don`t you just luv elfin safety

I know this is a bit off track and you probably meant it 'tongue in cheek’ but please don't throw sticks for dogs, a friend of mine threw one, it stuck in the ground and his dog, Ben, hit it at speed and it went through his neck, unfortunately Ben died from the injury, the vet said that this is quite a common occurrence and rather than a stick, a ball large enough not to get stuck in the dogs throat was by far the better choice.

[magnetman]

I know this is a bit off track and you probably meant it 'tongue in cheek’ but please don't throw sticks for dogs, a friend of mine threw one, it stuck in the ground and his dog, Ben, hit it at speed and it went through his neck, unfortunately Ben died from the injury, the vet said that this is quite a common occurrence and rather than a stick, a ball large enough not to get stuck in the dogs throat was by far the better choice.

 

thats bad . Maybe the vet should sell tennis balls as a health product?

[david and julie]

Bit of a difficult one this for the forestry commission I would think.

 

I'm sure they aren't that bothered about people picking up small pieces of wood, but unfortunately they also have to contend with people (often completely untrained and lacking any safety gear)using chainsaws.

 

It may be a sign of the times, but how can they overlook this sort of thing, eventually someone will have a nasty accident and no doubt try make claim against the FC as landowners.

[Roger Gunkel]

I know this is a bit off track and you probably meant it 'tongue in cheek’ but please don't throw sticks for dogs, a friend of mine threw one, it stuck in the ground and his dog, Ben, hit it at speed and it went through his neck, unfortunately Ben died from the injury, the vet said that this is quite a common occurrence and rather than a stick, a ball large enough not to get stuck in the dogs throat was by far the better choice.

 

I don't think a ball would be wise, as it could bounce along the towpath into the cut, causing the dog to leap in after it, leading to drowning if it could't get out again. In fact it is quite possible that Denboy would leap in after his faithful friend in a vain attempt to save its life and lose his own life tragically in the process. I would suggest banning dogs as pets on the grounds of H&S.

 

Roger

[SteveE]

I know this is a bit off track and you probably meant it 'tongue in cheek' but please don't throw sticks for dogs, a friend of mine threw one, it stuck in the ground and his dog, Ben, hit it at speed and it went through his neck, unfortunately Ben died from the injury, the vet said that this is quite a common occurrence and rather than a stick, a ball large enough not to get stuck in the dogs throat was by far the better choice.

 

So the ball ricochets into the cut and the pooch spears itself on something when it jumps in to retrieve it. So pretend to throw something but don't actually do so. The pooch will no doubt need counselling for subjective loss. So.........

SteveE

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10...t-firewood.html

 

It now seems that it is going to become illegal to collect firewood! For 800 years we have had the right to collect deadwood for fuel - a right given in the Magna Carta, but the Forestry Commission in Wales has recently stopped issuing licences to people who want to collect firewood, whilst continuing to give licences to commercial firewood suppliers. They claim that this is because of elfin safety concerns. They are concerned that we will injure ourselves whilst picking up firewood.

 

At this stage it is just the FC in Wales, but it is likely to be extended across to England. It is also likely that other authorities who manage woodland will also follow suit - now which lovely quango do we know that manages woodland?

 

How long I wonder before BW start banning boaters from picking up firewood on the grounds of H

 

 

Just ignore it - unenforcible

SteveE

[benjamino]

I know this is a bit off track and you probably meant it 'tongue in cheek’ but please don't throw sticks for dogs, a friend of mine threw one, it stuck in the ground and his dog, Ben, hit it at speed and it went through his neck, unfortunately Ben died from the injury, the vet said that this is quite a common occurrence and rather than a stick, a ball large enough not to get stuck in the dogs throat was by far the better choice.

Sounds like a rare but sacred blip of natural selection in a blood line of wholly unnatural selection. The extreme continuation of which has caused lifetimes of suffering and surgical intervention for unhealthy mutant dogs that have been forced to reproduce for other attributes and are now seen as desirable and 'pure' bred!

 

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the need we have to keep pets, and do like some dogs, but, every punter seems to have at least two these days and we are suffering from over population of humans as it is, shouldn't we be saving space for ourselves and not covering it in dog crap for our children to get in their eyes? Wouldn't it be nice to allow children to walk/toddle in a public area without fear of them putting their hands in any? Not to mention how about a towpath free of shite so we can tie up mooring ropes without scouring the area first.

 

The idea of owners picking it up and taking it home has even been turned into a disgusting self-convincing ritual of putting it in a plastic bag and then leaving that in a tree or hedge, so its off the ground but it will NEVER disappear now its in a non-degradable plastic bag! I appreciate this is a minority so please don't think I am labelling all dog owners with this.

[Chris Pink]

The idea of owners picking it up and taking it home

 

Wood burns better, dog shit takes too long to season.

[WJM]

"They are concerned that we will injure ourselves whilst picking up firewood"

 

No they are not. They are concerned that some smug, lowlife, tabloid-advertising 'Claims Lawyer' will pick up your case and hit them with it.

 

In the 1940s, hundreds, if not thousands, of young men lost their lives in hastily built defective aircraft. Back then people took it 'on the chin' as part of their jobs and the times they were living in. Today, one Nimrod blows up and country is being sued!

[ditchcrawler]

Sounds like a rare but sacred blip of natural selection in a blood line of wholly unnatural selection. The extreme continuation of which has caused lifetimes of suffering and surgical intervention for unhealthy mutant dogs that have been forced to reproduce for other attributes and are now seen as desirable and 'pure' bred!

 

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the need we have to keep pets, and do like some dogs, but, every punter seems to have at least two these days and we are suffering from over population of humans as it is, shouldn't we be saving space for ourselves and not covering it in dog crap for our children to get in their eyes? Wouldn't it be nice to allow children to walk/toddle in a public area without fear of them putting their hands in any? Not to mention how about a towpath free of shite so we can tie up mooring ropes without scouring the area first.

 

The idea of owners picking it up and taking it home has even been turned into a disgusting self-convincing ritual of putting it in a plastic bag and then leaving that in a tree or hedge, so its off the ground but it will NEVER disappear now its in a non-degradable plastic bag! I appreciate this is a minority so please don't think I am labelling all dog owners with this.

I think you will find that dogs often get injured in this way which helps to jeep the vets in BMWs.

I am a dog owning boater and I am appalled to see the bags hanging in the bushes,trees, etc maybe even on my prop. Last week my daughter informed me that some Pooh bags are bio degradable, but I don't know if that is correct.

[stort_mark]

Today, one Nimrod blows up and country is being sued!

Here's betting that none of your relatives were on it.

 

And...intrigued...which were the hastily built defective aircraft in the 1940s?

Edited November 1, 2008 by stort_mark

[scrumpylurcher]

Seems we are off topic, but yes you can get biodegradable pooh bags, It seems to be which is the lesser off the evils, I personally have a problem with the shovel it in the cut brigade - doesnt seem the best way to me, equally even bio-degradeable bags shouldnt be left hanging in the hedges. As one of the owners of 2 dogs there is a need to do something, just leaving it on the towpath is not an option. I use bio-degradable which I try to loose in the bottom of hedges, since bins of any sort are a rarity on the canals, and I wouldnt want to see bins at 50 yard intervals on the side of the cut.

[david and julie]

I have to ask this, environmentally speaking, what is the advantage in dog turds being left under hedgerows in bags as opposed to be left "as is".

[Theo]

I have to ask this, environmentally speaking, what is the advantage in dog turds being left under hedgerows in bags as opposed to be left "as is".

 

Only that if they are under the hedge you don't tread in them.

 

Dog turd: not an environmental problem*

 

Dog turd in non biodegradable bag: a very unpleasant problem for several years.

 

*Avoid touching or treading in them, though. They are seriously unpleasant.

[david and julie]

Only that if they are under the hedge you don't tread in them.

 

Dog turd: not an environmental problem*

 

Dog turd in non biodegradable bag: a very unpleasant problem for several years.

 

*Avoid touching or treading in them, though. They are seriously unpleasant.

 

Sorry Theo, my post wasn't clear. When I said "as is" I meant loose under the hedgerows (so to speak). I didn't mean leaving them where people can walk in them.